Many people have asked me over the past year or so to translate the Dwarvish lines spoken in the Battle of the Five armies movie. Though it took a tremendous amount of time to translate these (for the simple reason that there is no transcript available, nor are some of these lines pronounced very clearly either) I’ve made an attempt at it here:

This is my personal interpretation of these lines spoken in the Battle of the Five Armies film, based on all the knowledge available to me.

Further information on each translated line:

1) “Yanâd Durinul”, (Sons of Durin) from David Salo’s [YND] birth/son, as in “ênâd” (birth) – Ereb. Khuzdul: “Yand” (son), “Yanâd” (sons). This meaning will be added shortly to the updated Neo-Khuzdul dictionaries. “Durinul”, meaning “of Durin” is the Possessive Descriptive/Lineage marker as seen in “Balin Fundinul” (Balin, son “of Fundin”)

2) “Ihgirî ni-hun!” (Go right into them) I consider this line the most doubtful of all, as I have mixed feelings about the radicals used in the first word (it isn’t quite clearly pronounced unfortunately). After much consideration I went with the listed translation. Reason for this is that [HGR] is used in my Neo-Khuzdul for “right, to go right”. Ni is attested as “in” in Salo’s Neo-Khuzdul, while “hun” is the logical plural of “hu” (he/it), making it “them” (a colloquial masculine/neuter alternative for the more formal “izd”).

7) “Rakân, bekâr!” (Rows (lines), weapons!) – Though “bekâr” is attested (arms, weapons), “rakân” is not, yet is seems logical that this word means “rows” or “lines”. It takes the plural structure CaCâC as seen in many Neo-Khuzdul noun types. Furthermore the radicals [RKN] seems to link to the consonants found in the Proto-Germanic *rai(h)waz, meaning “row”. This meaning will be added shortly to the updated Neo-Khuzdul dictionaries.

8) “Ai-rusê” (Upon the filth!). This was a tricky one to say the least, again as the pronunciation is far from clear. “ai-” is from Tolkien’s original “aya”, as seen in “ai-mênu” (upon them). “rusê” is from the radicals [RSY] from Proto-Germanic *drohs- (dirt, dregs), using the CuCaC form, as seen in the original Tolkien “duban”, forming “rusay”, which becomes “rusê” through monophthongization. This meaning will be added shortly to the updated Neo-Khuzdul dictionaries.

9) “Idmi d’dum” (Welcome to the Hall). A novel way of welcoming someone to say the least. “Idmi” is the singular imperative form of “to welcome”, using the same radicals as seen in the word “dum” (mansion, hall). “d’ ” is the syncopated form of “du”, meaning “to”. While “dum”, is original Tolkien Khuzdul, as seen in “Khazad-dûm” (mansions of the dwarves, Dwarrowdelf).

10) See 5

11) “Khazâd ai-mênu!!” (The Dwarves are upon you) – Original Khuzdul by J.R.R. Tolkien, second half of the famous battle-cry as uttered by Gimli during the Battle of the Hornburg.

12) Singular form as seen in 2. Note: It is hard to tell if Billy Connolly utters a “hg” or “k”, this may have been “Ikrid ni-hu”, which would translate as “believe (trust) in him (it)!”, this may refer to either Durin, Thorin or even their weapons. May very well apply to the translation in line two as well.

Khuzdul is the language of the Dwarvesin J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium set in Middle-earth. For these Neo-khuzdul/Khuzdul translations both the original Tolkien material and David Salo’s Neo-Khuzdul have been used.

This is my personal interpretation of these lines spoken in tBotFA film, I do not claim this content to be canon, nor do I claim ownership of any material.

This video is an interpretation of Tolkien’s work and any Khuzdul related material, all rights are reserved for their proper owners. Any reference to any brand name is not meant to claim ownership of material.

Footage from The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and The Battle of the Five Armies Extended Edition, Courtesy of Warner Bros, all rights reserved.

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About The Dwarrow Scholar

The Dwarrow Scholar first experienced the brilliance of Tolkien when he received a copy of The Hobbit from his uncle as a kid, reading it feverishly again and again. Some years on, when he got his very own walk-man (aye forget about tiny iPods, this thing was a brick and played cassette tapes) he made his own little audiotape of The Hobbit, so he could listen to it on his bike on his way to school. Between reenacting the Battle of Five armies with 4 of his school friends (still feel sorry for the kid that had to be the Orc) and before the days of internet, you would find Roy frequently in libraries trying to find all he could about Tolkien and his beloved dwarves.
When Roy isn’t delving into Neo-Khuzdul or searching for lost dwarven treasures on the net he’s enjoying time with his wife and son, re-reading his tormented Tolkien paperbacks, watching a good movie, learning new languages or playing a game of LoTRO on Laurelin as Kandral Strongbeard.

4 Responses to Khuzdul in the Battle of Five Armies Movie

Awesome! Thank you very much! A lot of these are difficult to hear, so I know these must have taken a lot of time and effort.
Somewhat related: I have seen you give translations for all the lines of neo-Khuzdul in Desolation of Smaug and now The Battle of the Five Armies, but there is a line in An Unexpected Journey that I haven’t seen you translate. Bifur says something to Gandalf while at Bag End, to which Gandalf replies, “Yes, quite right, Bifur.” Do you know what it is that he says?

In an interview, William Kircher stated that what he said translate to: “Our great leader is not here.” He also said that him tapping his left arm with his right was a reference to Thorin’s Oakenshield.

In and interview, William Kircher (who plays Bifur), stated that what he said translates to “Our Great Leader is not here”. The right hand tapping his left forearm is a reference to Thorin’s Oak-Shield.